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Voting Article VIII, Section 4 on en banc cases

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(2) All cases involving the constitutionality of a treaty, international or
executive agreement, or law, which shall be heard by Supreme Court
en banc, and all other cases which under the Rules of Court are
required to be heard en banc, including those involving
constitutionality, application, or operation of presidential decrees,
proclamations, orders, instructions, issuance, and other regulations,
shall be decided with the occurrence of a majority of the Members
who actually took part in the deliberations on the issues in the case
and voted thereon.

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Requisites of Judicial Inquiry

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1. There must be an actual case or controversy;

2. The question of constitutionality must be raised by the proper
party;
3. The constitutional question must be raised at the earliest
possible opportunity; and
4. The decision of the constitutional question must be necessary
to the determination of the case itself.

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Actual Case

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Actual Case or controversy involves a conflict of legal rights, an

assertion of opposite legal claims susceptible of judicial adjudication.
The case must not be moot or academic or based on extra-legal or
other similar considerations not cognizable by a court of justice.
A justiciable controversy is thus distinguished from a difference or
dispute of a hypothetical or abstract character or form on that is
academic or moot. (Request for advisory opinion is not an actual case)

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Proper Party

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A proper party is one who has sustained or is in immediate danger of

sustaining an injury as a result of the act complained of.

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Earliest Opportunity

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The constitutional question must be raised at the earliest possible
opportunity, such that if it is not raised in the pleadings, it cannot be
considered at the trial. Exceptions:
1. In criminal cases, the constitutional question can be raised at
any time in the discretion of the court.
2. In civil cases, the constitutional question can be raised at any
stage if it is necessary to the determination of the case itself.
3. In every case, except where there is estoppel, the
constitutional question can be raised at any stage if it involves
the jurisdiction of the court.

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Necessity of Deciding Constitutional Questions

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Courts will as much as possible avoid deciding constitutional questions

due to the doctrine of separation of powers. (to doubt is to sustain)

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Effects of Declaration of Unconstitutionality

Orthodox view

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Orthodox view under this rule, as announced in Norton v. Shelby, an
unconstitutional act is not a law; it confers no rights; it imposes no
duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office; it is, in legal
contemplation, inoperative, as if it had not been passed. It is therefore
stricken from the statue books and considered never to have existed
at all. Not only the parties but all the persons are bound by the
declaration of unconstitutionality, which means that no one may
thereafter invoke it nor may the courts be permitted to apply it in
subsequent cases. Total nullity. (Article 7 Civil Code)

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Effects of Declaration of Unconstitutionality

Modern view

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Modern view under this view, the court in passing upon the
question of constitutionality does not annul or repeal the statute if it
finds it in conflict with the Constitution. It simply refuses to recognize
it and determines the rights of the parties just as if such statute had no
existence. The court may give its reasons for ignoring or disregarding
the law, but the decision affects the parties only and there is no
judgment against the statute. The opinion or reasons of the court may
operate as a precedent for the determination of other similar cases,
but it does not strike the statute from the statute books.

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Partial Unconstitutionality

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Partial Unconstitutionality in deference to the doctrine of
separation of powers, courts hesitate to declare a law totally
unconstitutional and, as long as they can, will salvage the valid
portions thereof in order to give effect to the legislative will.
Requisites:
1. The legislature is willing to retain the valid portions even if the
rest of the statute is declared illegal.
2. The valid portions can stand independently as a separate
statute. (Separability clause not necessary)